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The Piegan (also known as the Pikuni, Pikani, and Piikáni) are one of the three original tribes of the Blackfoot Confederacy (a "tribe" here refers to an ethnic or cultural group with a shared name and identity). The Piegan are closely related to the Kainai Nation (also known as the "Blood Tribe"), and the Siksika Nation (also called the "Blackfoot Nation"); together they are sometimes collectively referred to as "the Blackfoot" or "the Blackfoot Confederacy". Ethnographic literature most commonly uses "Blackfoot people", and Canadian Blackfoot people use the singular Blackfoot. The tribal governments and the US government use the term "Blackfeet", as in Blackfeet Indian Reservation and Blackfeet Nation, as used on their official tribe website. The term Siksika, derived from Siksikáíkoan (a Blackfoot person), may also be used as self-identification. In English, an individual may say, "I am Blackfoot" or "I am a member of the Blackfeet tribe."[3]

Since the 1870s, Piegan people have been members of either the Blackfeet Nation in the US or the Piikani Nation (Northern Piegan) in Canada. They are closely related to the Kainai (also known as the Blood) and the Siksika nations. All speak dialects of the Blackfoot language and are sometimes collectively referred to as the Blackfoot or the Blackfoot Confederacy. Ethnographic literature most commonly uses "Blackfoot people", and Canadian Blackfoot people use the singular Blackfoot. The US and tribal governments officially use "Blackfeet", as in Blackfeet Indian Reservation and Blackfeet Nation.[3]

In 2014, researchers reported on their sequencing of the DNA of a 12,500+-year-old infant skeleton in west-central Montana,[5] found in close association with several Clovis culture artifacts. It showed strong affinities with all existing Native American populations.[6]

There is preliminary evidence of human habitation in north central Montana, which became part of the Piegan territory, that may date as far back as 5000 years.[7] with evidence of substantial use of buffalo jumps dating to AD 300.[8] The Piegan people may be more recent arrivals in the area, as there is strong evidence that their Algonquian-speaking ancestors migrated southwest from what today is Saskatchewan beginning about 1730.[9]

The linguistic connection of the Blackfoot language to others in the Algonquian-language family indicate that the Blackfoot had long lived in an area west of the Great Lakes[citation needed]. Like others in this language family, the Blackfoot language is agglutinative.

The people practiced some agriculture and were partly nomadic. They moved westward after they adopted use of horses and guns, which gave them a larger range for bison hunting. They became part of the Plains Indians cultures in the early 19th century. According to tribal oral histories, humans lived near the Rocky Mountain Front for thousands of years before European contact.[10][11] The Blackfoot creation story is set near Glacier National Park in an area now known as the "Badger-Two Medicine".

In 1900, there were an estimated 20,000 Blackfoot. In the early 21st century, there are more than 35,000. The population was at times dramatically lower when the Blackfeet people suffered declines due to infectious disease epidemics. They had no natural immunity to Eurasian diseases, and the 1837 smallpox epidemic on the Plains killed 6,000 Blackfeet. They also suffered from starvation because of disruption of food supplies and war. When the last buffalo hunt failed in 1882, that year became known as the starvation year. The Blackfeet had controlled large portions of Alberta and Montana. Today the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana is the size of Delaware, and the three Blackfoot reserves in Alberta have a much smaller area.[3]

The Blackfeet hold belief "in a sacred force that permeates all things, represented symbolically by the sun whose light sustains all things."[2]

The Blackfoot do not have well documented male Two-Spirits, but they do have "manly-hearted women".[13] These were recorded as acting in many of the social roles of men. This includes a willingness to sing alone, usually considered "immodest", and using a men's singing style.[14]

In 1858 the Piegan in the United States were estimated to number 3,700. Three years later, Hayden estimated the population at 2,520. In 1906 there were 2,072 under the Blackfeet agency in Montana, and 493 under the Piegan band in Alberta, Canada. In the 2010 census, 105,304 people claimed Piegan Blackfeet ancestry, 27,279 of them full-blooded.[1]

James Welch (1940–2003), was an award-winning U.S. author and poet. While most of his published works were novels, he also wrote the non-fiction historical account, Killing Custer: The Battle of Little Bighorn and the Fate of the Plains Indians. He was one of the participants in the PBSAmerican Experience documentary, Last Stand at Little Bighorn. His award-winning novel, Fools Crow, is based on the Blackfeet tribe.